Okay, the news is a bit old but for the sake of completeness I am writing it. 67 Kashmiri students studying in a college at UP were suspended and the state police pressed charges of sedition, promoting enmity between the two communities and of doing mischief on them.

They were accused of publicly cheering up for Pakistani team in a
cricket match which India lost, while they were in the college. Hours
later, the charges of sedition were dropped and later their
suspension too. The news was so catchy that it captured headlines
even in the New York Times.

In
Focus

I tell you the charges of sedition were absurd. But then all need
to be sensitive about others' feelings and this applies both to
Kashmiri students and as well as to local students in UP. If for some
Valley people Kashmir is a disputed territory then for a vast
majority of this nation, Kashmir is an integral part of India and
latter’s mentality is mostly not responsible for any suffering of
the former.

In this dangerously evolving identity-driven conflicting world
understanding others’ points of view and having clarification about
self are very important things. Or else, the stability will always be
affected wherever there are identity-divides and such places globally
are rules rather than exceptions. In India, obviously, they are
norms.

In this context on 7 March, 2014, the Times of India, Lucknow
edition, raised certain questions. I would like to answer them one by
one.

Had the rival team been of any country other than Pakistan, would
the UP government have still slapped a sedition case against Kashmiri
students for cheering the other side in the cricket match?

In order to understand as to why the UP police put charges of
sedition on Kashmir students, one needs to understand the current hot
political situation in UP. UP is home to 80 Parliamentary seats and
therefore, it matters a lot for all the parties wishing to form
government in New Delhi after the upcoming Lok Sabha elections due
this summer.

Both Hindus and Muslims matter but the Muslims of UP as a group
would never go crazy about Pakistan so explicitly. The fact is that
it was deplorable act by Kashmiri students though not that much
punishable. Now it is indeed true that Pakistan matters more than any
other country regarding conflicts over Cricket matches in India.

The answer to the first question put by the Times of India is
itself a question: Would Kashmiri students have supported any team
other than that of Pakistan so overtly? The answer to both questions
is no: neither the state authorities would have put charges of
sedition on Kashmiri students so easily if the other team was not
that of Pakistan nor the Kashmiri students would have supported any
team other than that of Pakistan so enthusiastically and so
passionately.

And for the latter possibility there is a very pertinent practical
reason: Kashmiri students would not have got that much support and
sympathy that they are getting from their brothers and sisters in
Kashmir, mostly in Valley, and to some extent from few right-wingers
among Muslims of the nation, implicitly if not explicitly, if they
had supported a non-Pakistani, non-Indian team.

Would police have invoked this draconian provision had the
students cheering Pakistan not been Kashmiri Muslims?

The fact is that there is a huge difference between Pakistani team
and other teams. Some Indians many times show support for other teams
and even that is unpatriotic but then there are no moral guardian
controlling individual’s behavior. The same must be true about
Kashmiri Muslim students as well.

But then India has ongoing disputes with Pakistan over Kashmir and
over its involvement in terrorist acts on Indian soil. These are not
simple issues. Sure, there has to be humanistic angle as well and
also, even in dreams India can never imagine to copy Pakistan.

Now there are many aspects of Kashmir dispute and even India may
be at some fault. Okay, at least its stand has been inconsistent
historically but then Indian stakes in Kashmir do stabilise Kashmir
and the whole region and this can never be forgotten. Therefore,
Kashmiri Muslim students do represent that society which is in direct
conflict with proper Indian state and thus normal Indian sensitivity
also matters. This becomes a rather emotive and sensitive issue if
such incidents take place in UP; heart of Hindi heartland.

One cannot expect people studying in ordinary UP colleges to be
like Aristotle or Adam Smith. Neither even the residents of the most
posh localities in New Delhi and Mumbai can ever imagine to behave
like those of the down-town Manhattan. It is too much to expect from
Indians and if I know one result for sure then I know that Indians as
a group can never become Westerners. So, ordinary among Indians will
react more ordinarily than what their equivalents in the US would do.

But sure, as mentioned above there was a regional angle; Kashmir
and there was a religious angle: Muslim, when the charges of sedition
were put on Kashmiri students.

Do Indians have a legal obligation to support India in every
match?

Before that one thing needs to be clarified that the very same
Kashmir students would dispute their identity as being Indians. But
they are not foreigners either. So, their status is disputed as per
their own laws. Anyway, whether one is Indian, foreigner or person
from disputed land and if he and she are residing in India, they are
not bound to support Indian team in any match. But then others too
were watching. While Kashmiri students could have genuine grievances
with India as per their views, students of UP and those from other
parts of India do not have any. While one is free to take any view
that he and she may like but in public and social places one has to
be mindful and respectful of others’ opinions as well.

Mind you, the previously accused Kashmiri students did not cheer
up for Pakistani team in Kashmir but rather in UP which is fully
proper Indian land. Sure, one can mock at me saying who is Indian
team in Valley? But here comes the prompt reply what is Pakistani
team for a vast majority of Indians except for some unsatisfied
Muslims of India? Therefore, the aim of those students was not only
to cheer up for Pakistani team for the sake of game but rather to
challenge the might of India in one of its more mainstream places and
they were expecting some support from local Muslims too. Thus, except
for the charges of sedition other charges are true. So may be their
suspension, though as was expected it has been revoked.

Is it seditious to be unpatriotic?

The answer is definite no. Unpatriotic behavior does not imply
state putting charges of sedition on such individuals. India is a
free democratic country from Asian standards and the state can never
be accepted to become moral guardian of its people by its very own
elites. So far so good! But then behavior in public and social spaces
also matter. The fact is that while those students might have
expressed their frustration and disapproval of Indian administration
in Kashmir but there is little to change in Kashmir in any time soon.

This read is not to challenge anyone neither it is any expression
of sadistic pleasure over the state of Kashmiri people but instead a
rational explanation of whatever happened. To be reasonable not all
67 were cheering up for Pakistan and therefore, one has to be
judicious and accountable. Let me warns liberals in India who are
very much influenced by their counterparts in the West, particularly
by the Americans, that India cannot take an overdose of liberalism or
else it would cease to exist. Those who sa,y they do not care, they
should just look at the map of Asia. Right from West Asia to far east, only Israel, India, Singapore, the South Korea and Japan offer
hope for democracy and capitalism simultaneously and India is the
biggest state among them.

That should continue but without persecuting or suppressing any
identity. I hope that one day Kashmir dispute would be resolved to
the satisfaction of all parties and thereafter there will be no
dispute like this.

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